A system, such as a computer system or other type of system, includes various active components, including processing components, storage components, communications components, and so forth. Such active components draw electrical power to perform their respective tasks, and convert electrical power into thermal energy (in the form of heat) in the process. To prevent overheating, most systems include some type of a cooling mechanism, such as a fan (or multiple fans), to move air across heat-generating components to remove heat generated by such heat-generating components to maintain temperatures below some allowed maximum for proper performance and reliability.
Temperature sensors can be placed at different locations in a system. If a temperature in any part of the system rises above some threshold, then alerts or warnings can be generated, or system shutdown can be effected.
There may be various different causes of excessive temperature conditions. A simple warning provided of a high temperature level may not give a user any explanation of the root cause of such high temperature condition. Therefore, troubleshooting to find the cause of the high temperature condition can be difficult and time-consuming. As a result, high temperature conditions may cause shutdown of mission-critical systems for a relatively long period of time while troubleshooting occurs.